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And, interestingly, still has airspeed indicator in mph, and an autopilot that has basically the same capabilities as A2A Comanche (manual trim, alt hold only, no gs, etc.) 🙂

Maybe we'll make a custom G5 in the future for our planes, no promises though. Got some higher priority items on the list first 😉 New autopilot tutorial video:

Check if CDI control is set to GPS, otherwise the GPS may not provide the steering data for the autopilot. It will be.

We're not sure either but likely a bug in MSFS itself. Should be fixed in the upcoming Aerostar patch.

Another tutorial video from A2A if you are interested 🙂 Scott is also working on an engine start video.

We have a new video posted on A2A youtube channel, explaining the autopilot operation. Enjoy 🙂

Personally, I prefer to model the autopilot that's installed in the real aircraft, especially since we write a fully custom autopilot code for each unit, so we can model the quirks of different models. Like the need to trim the aircraft manually in Comanche's STEC-30, or custom NAV intercept logic and realistic GPS integration in Aerostar's Century IV. Seems more interesting than having the same GFC coupled with G1000 in every aircraft. The Century IV is pretty capable: it can intercept VOR radials, follow GPS magenta line, fly ILS or LPV approaches, has CWS button and pitch trim control. About the only thing I'm missing while flying is an altitude preselector, but it can't be interfaced with the autopilot in real life, otherwise we would add one to the panel in the sim. Well, all I can say is that the next A2A aircraft will have a different autopilot than our previous products. 🙂 Yes, all the charts in the manual are in MPH. The aircraft should match them pretty well, the speeds, engine power, fuel flow. Best power settings in the manual are for 100 degrees ROP, best economy setting is peak EGT.

It's an interesting topic that seems to often come up in discussions. Looking at published performance figures from POH, the Aerostar 600 is faster than Duke at altitudes below 10000 ft. Actually, at low altitude it's faster even than later turbocharged variants of Aerostar. Not to mention it burns less fuel, but that of course is not a big issue in the simulator. Duke is obviously faster at high altitude where it can make use of the turbochargers. You're right about VFR, I may be biased, but I think the Aerostar has the best cockpit visibility out of of all GA twins. Very large windows and no engines blocking the view. That being said, it also comes with complete avionics setup for IFR flights.

You can press ATT button again, or the yoke "pitch sync" button before engaging AP. Both will sync the pitch wheel to the current pitch. The yoke button is not visible and has to be bound to a key in a certain way, details are in the aircraft manual.

Hmm, no, that's not what the real unit does. The pitch wheel does not move when the AP is off and it syncs to aircraft attitude only on certain triggers. Engaging the autopilot is not one of them, at least according to the real manual. The modes remain as programmed before the engagement and the aircraft will follow indications set on the flight director. I'll ask Scott if he can still test it on his aircraft. Regarding sounds, do you have Loudness Limiter enabled in MSFS Sound settings? That may cause issues on some configurations. Also check your Texture Resolution setting while you're there, the higher the better 🙂

It will work with any single GPS unit but not dual GPS configurations, as it requires Collins VOR on the panel.

I'll note it down for checking, nobody reported that before. Scott's Aerostar 600A was an unpressurized airframe (like all early Aerostars), so there are no pressurization controls.

Do you mean the setting in the EFB? It's not needed, it's switching automatically now.

Make sure A2A App is not the one selected under "Default app launched" in the EFB settings menu.

Do you have A2A EFB set as default app? It may have trouble detecting the installed GPSes if you load it before the flight. Also test with default livery first. Custom liveries may ship with outdated config files.

Consider this: the newest Aerostar you could buy today is 40+ years old. Scott's aircraft would be 56 this year. 🙂 We'll see what can be done.

The Aerostar will be sold through marketplace and other vendors when it leaves early access. Regarding career compatibility, we simply dont know at this moment as it hasn't been thoroughly investigated yet. The career system is deliberately locked so one cannot cheat by using overperforming addon. But that also means as developers we can't control anything in this mode. For example all custom accusim wear and tear would have to be turned off and switched to MSFS default system in career mode. There is a bug in SU2 that causes the mappings menu to be extra slow for some reason. They fixed that in su3 beta.

Yes, using the same external flight modelling as in the Comanche.

The stock autopilot toggle ('Z' key by default) will work too.

It's probably happening because the GNS530/430 reads the aircraft heading from your (misaligned) HSI 😉

Fixing it should be possible with the free version available on avsim too: https://stevesfsxanalysis.wordpress.com/2014/07/08/ftx-global-lights/

And if you want something that is not a Boeing, there's also SimCheck Airbus A-300 sold by Aerosoft.

I have a PFC Saab Yoke, the same model that was reviewed by Word Not Allowed on his blog some time ago. It's really a night&day difference compared to my previous Saitek yoke. Smooth, precise and has a great feel. The Saab model has plenty of buttons, although not in a HAT layout. I bought the cheaper version without hall sensors and don't regret it. After one year it still works like new, it has two big, industry grade potentiometers, not the tiny, cheapest pots installed by Saitek or Thrustmaster. Also, Xavi's support at Simtechdesign where I bought the yoke was exceptional. No idea about GoFlight, when I was buying my yoke there were no reviews of it.

Thanks for the heads up. Didn't know the developer was still active after all those years (I remember the addon from the FS9). Highly recommended.

Nope, both 400 and 430 have the same screen and dimensions in reality, it's just the tuning function that is missing in the 400: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/digital/in-the-air/discontinued/gps-400/prod111.html https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/in-the-air/discontinued/gns-430w/prod301.html